August Digital Download
DIGITAL UPDATES
Google To Show Fewer Results
Google will start showing less rich results in search results, especially fewer FAQ results, and limiting How-To results to desktop devices. This means many websites may see a decline in click-through rates if they are impacted. Google will only show FAQ results for ‘well-known, authoritative government and health websites’. Which sites Google decides to show them for are automated and algorithmic. How To rich results will be only shown for desktop users and not on mobile.
SOCIAL UPDATES
TikTok’s Subscriber Only Videos
Last year, TikTok announced LIVE Subscription, which was a monthly subscription for people to show their appreciation for their favourite live creators. TikTok has now added Subscriber-Only Videos. This feature promotes interactions beyond live sessions, encouraging subscribers to engage with each other through likes, comments, and replies to help foster more meaningful connections within their community. It hopes to allow the creator to know their audience on a more personal level.
Levelling Up Shorts
YouTube is introducing new, creative tools to help improve your Shorts and compete with other formats like TikTok and Reels. ‘Collab’ allows you to duet another YouTube video or Short and the ‘Remix’ button will automatically bundle both the audio and effect from the video you are remixing so that you can hop onto the trend faster. Conversation is being encouraged with new Q&A stickers and the ability to reply to comments with another Short rather than text. YouTube will also be testing the insertion of live videos into Shorts feeds.
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Threads New Features
Threads are again levelling up by adding new features. You now have the ability to share Thread posts to your Instagram DMs. You can add custom alt text to photos and videos, and a new ‘mention button’ that lets you easily mention someone’s account in your thread. As well as this, Threads on Desktop is also live – which is a feature that rival X already has. Threads Desktop hopes to reignite user growth.
Podcasts on TikTok
Creators can now upload an entire episode onto the platform, rather than small snippets. Podcasts have been growing in popularity, the amount of genres, hosts, and types of Podcasts is endless. The full episode will be located in the RSS feed, which can be linked to the creator's short-form videos. When a user wants to listen to an entire podcast, they can click on the link and listen without having to leave the platform.
EU To Remove TikTok Algorithm
TikTok is known to be successful for its algorithm, it understands what you like and what you don’t like before you’ve realised it yourself. However, due to new requirements, users within the EU will now have the ability to turn off the personalised algorithm. For You and Live feeds will instead show popular videos from around the world. The Digital Services Act (DSA) states social media platforms have to explain to users and researchers how their algorithm works when recommending content. How this will impact the app's user base and engagement levels is unknown – but watch this space to stay updated.